Another thing Lechler and I talked about was his departure from the Raiders and his thoughts toward the organization. I tweeted yesterday that I’d write Lechler’s thoughts on the differences between the Texans and Raiders. Immediately, several Raider fans assumed that meant Lechler had trashed his former organization.

The truth was, while the split was awkward, Lechler doesn’t seem to harbor resentment for it.

Here’s what he told me: “You know after 13 years I kind of thought I would [spend his whole career with the Raiders]. It came down to free agency and there was really no talks with them so I figured they were ready to turn the page and move on. I had a pretty good talk with the owner, with Mark Davis. After I told him just be honest with me. If you guys are ready to move on, I understand. Luckily, maybe it worked out the best for both sides at this point in my career.”

I noted that the Raiders made a rare show of respect to a former player who left for another team when posting a tweet wishing Lechler the best. Lechler noticed.

“Yes, I did and it felt good,” he said. “I was with an organization that we had our ups and downs. Just to have those guys tick behind me the way they did and support me and to wish me luck as I moved on, that meant a lot to me. I kind of felt like when I did sign here in Houston, there was a little bit of bitter feelings between myself and Oakland and vice versa. Just to kind of clear the air that was good.”

Were the Raiders a dysfunctional organization?

“I didn’t feel that way,” he said. “I just felt like there was so much change all the time there. I went through eight head coaches in 13 years, stuff like that just kind of got to be a little bit of — I felt like the organization was in a try-to-fix-it-now mode all the time. I’m glad to be here where coach Kubiak’s been here for a while and it’s a stable deal.”